After the morning interviews Elena met Pearl and Anna at the grill for a late breakfast.

"Anna." Elena hugged her and Anna was as usually shocked but she was starting to get used to getting a hug from Elena every time they met.

"Elena." Anna said softly then she pulled back to introduce he mother. "Elena this is my mother, Pearl Zhu. Mom this is Elena Gilbert."

"It's an honor to finally meet you." Elena smiled at pearl. "And I'm so sorry for everything my ancestors have done to you and yours."

"It's nice to meet you to, Elena." Pearl sounded pleasantly surprised. "Annabelle said that you would be willing to sell a property to me, is that correct?"

"Yeah, the only reason you don't already own it is because until yesterday my uncle John was the estate's trustee because neither me or Jeremy were of age but I become emancipated yesterday so I could sell it to you without him interfering." Elena explained.

"And you are okay with selling it to me knowing your uncle would disapprove?" Pearl asked surprised.

"The way I see it, the property should have been yours from the start, it's not your fault that Jonathan Gilbert basically stole it from you." Elena sounded disgusted at her ancestor, then she smirked. "And honestly? Uncle John disapproving makes me want to sell it to you even more."

The rest of the meeting went without a problem and with Pearl once again owning the property and feeling a little better about her daughter being friends with the Gilbert siblings.

When she got home, Elena had some time to kill before she was supposed to meet Damon at the school so she chose to watch the inter-cut edit from the interview earlier that morning.

"This year's queen will have the special honor of taking stage during the hundred and fiftieth Founders' Day Gala." Carol Lockwood was saying on the screen. "Before we crown our winner, we'd like to get to know a bit more about each of you."

Caroline is shown first, "I'm on the Mystic Falls beautification committee and I volunteer at the poor soup kitchen."

Elena saw herself next and had to cringe, she hated being in film and in pictures. "I am protective of my family and friends and would drop everything to help a friend in need."

Then it was back to Caroline, "I implemented this year's 'Go Green' campaign at school."

And then it was sadly back to Elena herself, "I love to dance and sing and spend time with my little brother."

Samantha, a girl Elena didn't know much about, came on the screen sounding very arrogant as she said, "I don't think it's wrong for me to win two years in a row."

It switched to Amber, "I was surprised to have been selected since I'm not from one of the founding families."

Elena was back on screen and she knew she was lying through her teeth, "This is a huge honor and I am very blessed to have been chosen for this."

Caroline was on the screen again, "I worked for the recycling program and was in charge of this year's police raffle."

A girl named Tina got a little screen time, "Just because my D.U.I. made my community service mandatory doesn't mean that I was any less committed."

The whole thing finished by showing Elena again, "This was really important to my mother and standing here I feel closer to her."

Around two hours later Elena was dancing with Damon as Carol Lockwood was teaching them all the dance moves that was needed for the Mystic Falls pageant.

"Honor your partner, Stay focused, right hand around. Flirt with your eyes. Left hand around." Carol was instructing them.

Elena was wiggling her eyebrows at Damon, "This is ridiculous."

"Both hands." Carol called out.

"This was actually very intimate back in the day." Damon smirked.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot." Elena laughed. "You were around when this dance was invented."

"Ouch!" Damon laughed and spun Elena around to catch her in his arms.

"No! No! No! There's no touching during this part. It's about the simple intimacy of the near touch!" Carol called out. "Very nice, Amber!"

"Thank you, Mrs. Lockwood." Amber blushed.

"I think this whole thing is overrated." Damon murmured to Elena.

"You are not wrong." Elena laughed.

A while later they are all allowed to leave to let the next group practice and Elena and Damon met Bonnie and Caroline right inside the door.

"Hey Bonnie, Caroline." Elena smiled at them.

"Bonnie," Damon nodded at Bonnie, "How are you?"

Bonnie ignored him completely making Elena frown and Damon to sigh, not really caring either way.

"I begged Bonnie to fill in for Matt, he had to work today." Caroline explained and Elena heard something weird in her voice, she looked at Caroline who mouthed. 'Tell you later."

"Bonnie, do you have a minute?" Elena turned to Bonnie.

"We only have 30 minutes for rehearsals." Bonnie hesitated.

"It'll only take a minute." Elena reassured and together they walked out of the room.

They walked into an empty classroom, "Bonnie, what's wrong?"

"It's not worth talking about." Bonnie shrugged.

"What do you mean 'not worth it'?" Elena asked. "You've barley said ten words to me and you won't even look at Damon. Is that what it is? Damon?"

"Listen, Elena, I can't just pretend that everything is okay." Bonnie glared at her. "Everything my Grams did was to protect us from those vampires in the tomb and now they're out which means she died for nothing."

"Okay, that's it, I'm done being Miss Nice Friend." Elena growled. "First of; stop being such a judgmental, racist bitch! And don't pretend that you're not, you hate vampires because of what they are, something they can't change. That's like someone hating you for being black."

"But..." Bonnie tried to interrupt.

"No, I'm still talking." Elena glared. "Second; the only one at fault for your Grams dying? Is your Grams! She should have thought about the consequences before she betrayed me, Stefan and Damon! And Third; The Tomb vampire? Not all of them deserved to be starved and tortured by the so-called founders of Mystic Falls."

"They kill people!" Bonnie argued heatedly.

"So what? We kill animals for food." Elena argued back and when she saw Bonnie open her mouth her mouth again, she continued. "And don't come here and say that it's not the same thing. All through history hunting something weaker than you for food has always been a thing!"

"So, your choosing them over me?" Bonnie demanded to know.

"I didn't make that choice, you did." Elena walked away with tears in her eyes.

"You okay?" Damon asked softly as he followed her to his car.

Elena looked up at him and couldn't stop the tears from falling from her eyes. Damon pulled her into his arms and held her tightly as she sobbed into his chest, feeling like going back into the school and ripping the Bennett bitch... sorry, witch's throat out for hurting Elena.

XOXOXOX

Later that afternoon Elena was carrying her dress bag down the stairs so she could bring it to the founders' hall where she would be getting ready. As she stepped off the last step there was a knock on the door.

"Hey." Elena smiled at Alaric as she opened the door.

"Hi." Alaric said back awkwardly. Seems like he still hadn't really gotten over first seeing her basically naked and then her attitude towards the supernatural.

"I heard you're driving." Elena smirked.

"Yeah I am." Alaric shrugged. "Here let me get that."

Elena gives him dress bag, "Thanks."

"How is Stefan?" Alaric asked as he closed the door behind him while they waited for Jenna.

"What do you mean?" Elena asked, slightly distracted by looking for her purse.

"I haven't seen him in a couple of days and when he wasn't going to be your escort I started to wonder." Alaric shrugged.

"Oh, he's fine." Elena reassured with a smile. "He's just on a trip with his best friend at the moment."

"Alaric." John said as he walked in through the door. "Hey, buddy, what are you doing here?"

"I'm the chauffeur." Alaric informed him.

"I thought I was driving." John muttered, confused.

Elena walked out to Alarics car before she either punched John or started to laugh in his face.

Around 45 minutes later Jenna was helping Elena curl her hair as she was putting on her makeup. She chooses to go with natural colors on her makeup with winged eyeliner and dark red lips so most of the attention would be on her wine-colored dress.

"Thank you for helping me aunt Jenna." Elena said softly.

"Don't thank me until you're sure your hair isn't going to burn off." Jenna hummed with uncertainty.

"No really, thank you for being here." Elena looked at Jenna seriously through the mirror. "It means a lot to me."

"I feel honored that you want me here." Jenna smiled with tears in her eyes.

When Jenna is done with her hair Elena got up and turned around to see Caroline standing a few paces away and gasped loudly. "Caroline!"

"What?" Caroline looked down on herself. "Is there something wrong with my dress? Is my makeup ruined?"

"No noting like that, sorry for worrying you, it's just..." Elena was still looking at her wide eyed.

"Just what?" Caroline still looked worried.

"You look absolutely stunning." Elena breathed out in awe. "You look like a fairytale princess."

"Do you really mean that?" Caroline looked hopeful.

"I wouldn't lie to you Caroline." Elena reassured.

Elena and Caroline smiled at each other when there was a knock on the door and Carol Lockwood stuck her head inside. "Let's go ladies, the line-up is starting."

"Good luck Caroline, I'm rooting for you." Elena smiled at her best friend.

Caroline and Elena are standing at the top of the stairs as they here Mayor Lockwood call out. "Miss. Tina Fell, escorted by Bartholomew Whitmore."

Tina went down the stairs as Elena snorted and said quietly to herself, 'The fastest man alive. The Flash.'

"What are you mumbling about?" Caroline asked.

"Nothing important." Elena hummed.

Amber made her way down from the balcony as the mayor said, "Miss Amber Bradley with her escort Blake Davis."

"So is Matt escorting you?" Elena asked quietly.

"No, he couldn't get out of work." Caroline looked down sadly.

"I'm sorry." Elena said with sympathy.

"It's not your fault." Caroline smiled reassuringly at her friend.

"Miss. Caroline Forbes and her escort Jeffery Lockwood Hamilton." Mayor Lockwood called out and Caroline took a deep breath and made her way down the stairs.

"Elena, you're next." Carol smiled at her.

A few minutes later Mayor Lockwood called out for Elena. "Miss. Elena Gilbert, escorted by Damon Salvatore."

Damon takes her hand when she reached the bottom of the stairs. Together they made walked outside, walking past Alaric and Jenna who his taking lots of photos on her phone. Damon and Elena took their positions for the dance and then they bow and curtsey to their respective partner.

The girls and their escorts started to dance and Elena smiled at Damon, she would never be able to thank him enough for doing this for her. When the dance ended Damon escorted Elena up on the stage so the winner could be crowned.

"Before I crown the winner, I'd like to offer a personal thank you to all these young ladies for their effort to better our community." The mayor said with smarmy smile as the crowd applauded. "So, without further a due it is my honor to announce our very own Miss Mystic Falls; Miss Caroline Forbes."

"You did it!" Elena beamed at Caroline, very happy she didn't win, Elena hated to be the center of attention.

"I actually won!" Caroline laughed in disbelief.

"Of course, you did." Elena managed to hug Caroline before the mayor put the banner around her shoulders.

"Are you sad that you didn't win?" Damon asked as Elena rejoined him.

"Relived, actually." Elena admitted.

"I thought this was every girls dream." Damon smirked.

"I hate being the center of attention and if you hadn't been waiting for me at the end of the stairs I would probably have bolted." Elena blushed.

"You look so pretty Elena." Anna told her as her and Jeremy walked up to Elena and Damon.

"Thank you." Elena blushed. "You look really good to."

"Thanks." Anan smiled as she held Jeremys hand then she turned to Damon. "My mom wanted to talk to you, is it okay if we come over later?"

"That works for me." Damon agreed.

"Elena, Jeremy, you two coming?" Jenna called out from Alaric's car.

"We'll be right there." Jeremy called back.

"Thank you for making this an awesome day." Elena kissed Damon on the cheek.

"Thank you for giving me the honor of being your escort." Damon grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it.

As Elena and Jeremy were walking away Elena turned back towards Anna and said, "Tell your mom that I expect an invite to the grand opening of her store."

"Absolutely." Anna bounced in place with a bright smile.

A few hours later, around midnight when everyone in the Gilbert household were asleep, Elena was tossing and turning on the bed caught in a nightmare. Flashes of a dark being walking beside her, like it was trying to talk to her and protect her but something was interfering, something evil. Elena sat up with a frightened gasp, what the hell was going on?